Logan Kade (Fallen Crest #5.5) (29 page)

“I’d rather have Real Face Logan over Public Face Logan any day, any time, any…” I licked my lips. “…position.”

He groaned, dipping his head closer to mine. “I see what you did just there.”

“You do?”

We both wore stupid grins, getting stupider by the second, but I was beyond caring.

“Mr. Kade.” The professor’s voice boomed over the classroom.

We jerked apart, and an embarrassed flush heated my cheeks. I slumped in my seat and tried to remember we hadn’t been doing anything wrong.
Just flirting,
a voice said in my head. I felt guilty for flirting. That was ridiculous.

“Yo, teach.” Logan was the exact opposite of me. He sat as straight in his chair as possible and lifted a hand in a casual wave. “Thanks for letting me switch classes. It’s much appreciated.”

Our professor looked at me as she mused, “Mmm-hmmm. I’m sure your reasons were valid.”

“Completely. My allergies always flare up for nine a.m. classes.”

“A couple of hours later seem to be working just fine for you.” She motioned to him. “I don’t hear any sniffling or wheezing.”

“Yep. Told you this would work better.”

She harrumphed once more before turning on the projector, and a smattering of laughter rippled through the class. I could feel the other students’ eyes and remembered the first day of school. So many girls had watched me, trying to flirt with Logan. Now it was even worse. I felt like they could tell we’d been intimate. I wanted to hide in my chair. As if sensing my embarrassment, Logan threw his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me to his side.

“Oh my God,” I muttered under my breath.

The professor stopped talking and turned to us. “Is there a problem, Miss Bruce?”

I cursed under my breath, but before I could respond, Logan lifted his hand in the air again. “She sneezed. Her allergies are acting up this time.”

“She’s been fine all week,” the professor replied coolly. “Perhaps she’s allergic to you, Mr. Kade?”

I tensed. That left it wide open for Logan. I knew he was going to say something, and then everyone would know. He laughed before his delivery. “Not possible. I was all over her last night, and there’s not a hive in sight.” He studied me for a moment and gave her the thumbs-up sign. “She’s breathing just fine.”

Yep. He went there.

I closed my eyes and hung my head. Hearing how the whispering picked up, I knew this was going to spread like wildfire.

Logan was so pleased with himself, but once class ended, I grabbed him and pulled him to an empty room. I whirled on him as soon as the door closed. “Do you know what you did in there? You announced that we’re sleeping together.”

“Why’s that a problem?”

“Because…” I shook my head.
Did he really not get it?

Suddenly, the Logan everyone else knew became the Logan only I knew, and the intensity in the room jumped two levels. We were back to thick, palpable sexual tension. He always had this power over me.

“No, I get why you might not want that put out there, but I do. I thought about this. I’m claiming you. It’s not the other way around. Girls try to claim me all the time, and I never let it happen. But not this time. Not with you. I
want
to claim you. I want
everyone
to know we’re together.” His eyebrows pinched together. “Aren’t we?”

“Are we?” My mouth went dry.

He stared at me. I stared at him. I didn’t think either of us had expected this talk.

“Wait. So, you want people to know we’re sleeping together?”

His voice dropped low. “You were never a secret to me.”

Oh. This…had me reeling. “I have major baggage, Logan. My mom. My ex-boyfriend. Now I’m worried about Jason—”

“Speaking of Delray. I was serious before. I asked where your boyfriend is, and where is he?” His eyes grew hard. “I want to have a talk with him.”

“That’s who you meant by boyfriend? I thought you were joking about yourself.”

“Normally, yes. This time, no. I really want to know where he is.”

I shifted my feet. “I can’t, Logan.” I’d promised Jason time.

“You can.” He moved closer. “Where is he?”

I moved back. “He said he’d take care of it. I have to give him that chance.”

“He put you in danger.”

“No.” I shook my head. “We put ourselves in danger. Jason didn’t know we were there. He had no idea. And it didn’t look like coming there had been his idea anyway. We helped give him extra time, but he’s never put me in danger before.” At least, he never realized he had. “I have to believe him.”

“He’s addicted to that lifestyle.”

“If it were Sam? She’s like family to you. If she was messed up in something, what would you do then?”

Logan’s eyes went flat, and his face became an unreadable mask. I had stepped wrong, but I needed to make him understand. Before he could say anything, my voice dropped to a whisper. “He’s my family, Logan. He was there for me when my real family wasn’t. You have to understand that.”

“I do, but he’s sick. You asked me what I’d do if it were Sam, and I’d do the same. If she were in that position, she’d be sick, and Mason and I would take care of her.” He moved closer. His hand took hold of mine, our fingers linking together. “I’d do the same for you.”

I knew he was right. “I don’t know what to tell you, though. He took off. I don’t know where he is, just that he promised to make things right and that Rankin would never be a problem for us.”

Logan wasn’t happy. I saw the anger on his face. He ran a hand through his hair, making the ends stand up in sexy disarray. He looked ready to say something when a thump sounded against the door.

Claire’s hand had smacked the window. She opened her mouth to say something, but her eyes went to Logan and she seemed to change her mind. Her eyes widened, and she stepped back, but she didn’t go away.

“You really don’t know where he is?”

I shook my head, turning back to Logan. “He was at my house this morning. He made me breakfast and then took off. I told him I’d give him time to fix things.”

“Taylor.”

I saw the worry. It dripped off of him, from his tense shoulders to the crease in his forehead.

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

“I’m going to find him, and I’m going to find out what he said to Rankin.”

“And after that?”

“Then we’ll deal with Rankin.”

He started to leave, but I caught his arm. I tugged him close. “Be careful, okay?”

The corners of his mouth relaxed into a slight grin. “What are you doing tonight? I’ll want to see you. Sorry for being an ass in the room.”

“I’m working, and that’s okay.” I squeezed his hand. “But if you wanted everyone to know we’re sleeping together, and I didn’t, doesn’t that make me the awesome one?” I winked. “Think about that.”

He chuckled and bent down to give me a soft kiss. Lingering there, his lips brushed over mine once more before he pulled back. “No one’s on my level.” His hand slid around my waist. “But I think you’ve exceeded it.”

After another deep kiss, he was gone, and I felt a little breathless.

Until Claire popped into the room.

PUNCHING’S MY THING

TAYLOR

Claire stepped aside so Logan could leave, then made a beeline for me. I braced myself, thinking she was going to ask about Jason, but she didn’t. She’d already heard the Logan rumor and wanted details. I wasn’t sure if that was better or worse.

I told her the basic truth, that we were sleeping together. She knew it, but I guess she hadn’t known how involved the sleeping together part meant. She wanted to know more, but I didn’t have anything else I wanted to tell her. Logan and I hadn’t nailed things down, and I didn’t really want to. Most girls might jump at the chance to lock him down, but I wasn’t lying when I’d told him I had baggage. Even though I was starting to deal with things, I had a long way to go. And I had to go to work, so Claire was pushed off…for the moment. I knew she’d want more gossip later, but for now, I was almost eager to punch my timecard.

Telling Logan about my mom and how Eric had left me helped open that door to healing, but it was all so fresh. My worry about the Jason situation helped to distract me, but as I left for my shift at Pete’s Pub, I thought about my mom. I thought about Eric—what I’d say to him if I saw him again. After a moment I felt overwhelmed with pain and bitterness. I felt panic coming on, so I shut it down.

I started off again, but heard my name behind me. It was Jeremy Fuller. “Hey, Taylor.”

He had stopped a few feet behind me, but came forward when I waved. I could feel the disapproval emanating from him.

“Hey back.”

His eyes narrowed. “Logan Kade, huh?”

Yep. There it was. “You heard.”

He nodded. “I did, but I’m not surprised. I saw him outside of my party. I saw how he was looking at you.”

Of course, he did. “I don’t want to be rude because I don’t know you very well, but…” I had no clue how to handle this, but he had an opinion. “I’m not sure if I even want to hear what you have to say.”

“I could see that. But…”

But…it was coming anyway. I could see the wheels turning in his mind. I waited.

“He’s going to hurt you.”

I nodded. “I’ve been told.”

“What are you doing then? I don’t get it.” He took a step closer. A stream of students milled around us. A few glanced over their shoulders or gave us sidelong looks as they went by. A few had knowing looks on their faces, but others seemed curious. A few were irritated because we were in the middle of the sidewalk; I liked those guys the most right now. They had no opinion on my love life.

“Are you supposed to?” I shook my head. “Get it, I mean. I can understand my two best friends having an opinion, but you… You’re my TA.” Suddenly, I knew why he had an opinion. Thinking back, I should have seen it right away, my first day in his class. I’d blamed it all on paranoid girls who were into him, but he had a part in it, too. “It’s because you like me.”

“It’s because I care.” His eyes were full of caution. “Logan Kade hurts people. That’s what he and his brother do. I don’t want that to happen to you.”

“Why do you care?” Because he did. More than maybe he should’ve. There had to be a reason. “Who did Logan hurt that you cared about?”

He shook his head. “It was no one. No one to him, but it was someone to me, and he’s going to do it to you too. I know what you went through last year.”

I stepped back. “Stop. Right there. Just stop.” My mom, Eric, my dad’s absence—he had no right bringing that up. “I’m sorry for whoever you cared about that Logan hurt, but you don’t know anything about last year.”

“I know what happened. I know that’s why you moved back.” He was becoming so intense. “I know your dad’s been emotionally absent.”

The students around us all started to spin together, becoming one long line that wrapped around us, that wouldn’t stop. My hands clutched my bag straps. I hung my head. I wanted to bury it in the ground beneath me.

“Kade is going to shatter you,” he said. “He’s the wrong guy for you to be seeking comfort with. He doesn’t know how to give it, or to be loyal, or to be—” He bit back the rest and closed his eyes. I saw the strain on his face. “Logan Kade destroys lives. That’s what he does.”

I was seething inside, but I asked, grinding out, “Who? Who did Logan hurt that you cared about?”

He didn’t answer right away. He stared back at me, the anger flaring in his eyes, and then it faded and he murmured, almost brokenly, “It was no one to him. She was a girl who had a crush. That was it, but she meant the world to me. She liked him, and she told him at a party. He was drinking heavily. That’s what she said, and she approached him. They had sex, and afterwards…” His voice grew hollow. “He didn’t remember her the next day. It shattered her. That’s not what she did normally, but he didn’t even remember…I cared for her. I would’ve been there for her.”

“What happened to her?”

“She left school.”

So Logan was drunk, a girl came up to him and said she liked him. He slept with her and…that was all Logan’s fault. I shook my head. Jeremy was wrong. He was so very wrong, but watching him, I could see that he didn’t care. He was still holding on to the past, on to losing that girl. He wasn’t being rational when it came to Logan.